Useful Email Phrases ( FORMAL WRITING)

GREETINGS
Formal

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Dear Sir or Madam,

To whom it may concern: (especially AmE)

Dear Mr/ Ms Jones,

Dear Dr Smith,

REASON FOR WRITING / REPLYING

Formal

I am writing to make a reservation/ to apply for the position of/ to confirm my

booking/ to ask for further information about
I am writing with regard to the sale of / to the complaint you made on 29
February
Thank you for your e-mail of 29 February regarding the sale of / concerning the
conference in Brussels.
With reference to our telephone conversation on Friday, I would like to let you know
that
MAKING A REQUEST / ASKING FOR INFORMATION
Formal

Could you please let me know if you can attend the fair/ if you are available
for a meeting on 12 December?

I would appreciate it if you could send me a brochure/ if you could reply

within two days.

Could you possibly arrange a meeting with my secretary?

I would also like to know if there are any swimming pools in your area.

Please, let me know how much the tickets cost.

OFFERING HELP / GIVING INFORMATION

Formal

We are happy to let you know that your article has been selected for
publication.

I am glad to inform you that we will be holding our annual conference in

Brussels on 20 September 2014.

We regret to inform you that the show has been canceled due to bad weather
conditions.

We are willing to arrange another meeting with the CEO.

We would be glad to send you another statement if necessary.

Please, let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Should you need any further information/assistance, do not hesitate to

contact us.
I trust the above resolves your queries. Should you have any further questions, please do
not hesitate to contact me.

COMPLAINING
Formal

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with / to complain about

I regret to say that I was not completely satisfied with the room you

provided us.

We regret to inform you that your payment is considerably overdue.

I would like to receive a full refund and compensation for the damages.

I am interested to hear how your company can compensate us for the

distress we suffered.

APOLOGIZING
Formal

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Please accept our apologies for the delay.
Please let us know what we can do to compensate you for the damages
caused.


We will make sure that this will not happen again in the future.
I am afraid I will not be able to attend the conference.

ATTACHING FILES
Formal

I am attaching my CV for your consideration.

I am sending you the brochure as an attachment.
Please see the statement attached.
Please find attached the file you requested.
I am afraid I cannot open the file you have sent me.
Could you send it again in format?

CLOSING FORMULA
Formal

Yours faithfully, (when you start with Dear Sir/ Madam,)

Yours sincerely, (when you start with the name e.g. Dear Ms Collins)
Sincerely Yours, (AmE)
Sincerely, (AmE)
Yours Truly, (AmE)

BUSINESS ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Writing Business Letters
Useful phrases and vocabulary for writing business letters.

Salutation

Dear Mr. Brown

Dear Ms. White
Dear Sir
Dear Madam

 Dear Sir or Madam

Gentlemen

Starting

Referring to previous
contact

Making a request

Offering help

Giving good news

Giving bad news

We are writing
- to inform you that ...
- to confirm ...
- to request ...
- to enquire about ...
I am contacting you for the following reason...
I recently read/heard about ..... and would like to know ....
Having seen your advertisement in ..., I would like to ...
I would be interested in (obtaining / receiving) ...
I received your address from ----- and would like to ...
Thank you for your letter of March 15.
Thank you for contacting us.
In reply to your request, ...
Thank you for your letter regarding ...
With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday...
Further to our meeting last week ...
It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month.
I enjoyed having lunch with you last week in Tokyo.
I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed
on Tuesday.
We would appreciate it if you would ...
I would be grateful if you could ...
Could you please send me ...
Could you possibly tell us / let us have ...
In addition, I would like to receive ...
It would be helpful if you could send us ...
I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) ...
I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.
Please let me know what action you propose to take.
Would you like us to ...?
We would be happy to ...
We are quite willing to ...
Our company would be pleased to ...
We are pleased to announce that ...
I am delighted to inform you that ..
You will be pleased to learn that ...
We regret to inform you that ...
I'm afraid it would not be possible to ...
Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to ...
After careful consideration we have decided (not) to ...

Complaining

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ...

I am writing to complain about ...
Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date )
have not yet arrived.
We regret to inform you that our order n ----- is now
considerably overdue.
I would like to query the transport charges which seem
unusually high.

BUSINESS ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Writing Business Letters
(page 2)

Apologizing

We are sorry for the delay in replying to ...

I regret any inconvenience caused (by) ...

I would like to apologize for the (delay, inconvenience)...

Once again, please accept my apologies for ...

Thank you for your quotation of ...

We are pleased to place an order with your company for..

We would like to cancel our order n .....

Please confirm receipt of our order.

I am pleased to acknowledge receipt of your order n .....

Your order will be processed as quickly as possible.

It will take about (two/three) weeks to process your order.

We can guarantee you delivery before ...(date)

Unfortunately these articles are no longer available /

are out of stock.

Please send us your price list.

You will find enclosed our most recent catalogue and price list.

Please note that our prices are subject to change

without notice.

We have pleasure in enclosing a detailed quotation.

We can make you a firm offer of ...

Our terms of payment are as follows ...

Our records show that we have not yet received

payment of ...

According to our records ...

Please send payment as soon as possible.

You will receive a credit note for the sum of ...

I am enclosing ...

Orders

Prices

Referring to payment

Enclosing documents

Expressions for thanking

1.

Thank you for your help. / time / assistance / support

2.

I really appreciate the help. / time / assistance / support youve given me.

3.

Thank you once more for your help in this matter.

Expressions with a future focus

1.

I look forward to hearing from you soon / meeting you next Tuesday.

2.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

3.

Im looking forward to your reply.

4.

We hope that we may continue to rely on your valued custom.

5.

We look forward to a successful working relationship in the future.

6.

Please advise as necessary.

7.
I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.
Expressions for showing them you want to help
1.

If I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

2.

If you require any further information, feel free to contact me.

3.

If you require any further information, let me know.

4.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information.

5.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

6.

I hope the above is useful to you.

7.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

8.

Please contact me if there are any problems.

9.

Let me know if you need anything else

10.

Drop me a line if I can do anything else for you.